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The Dow component leading the way higher looks to be Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq:MSFT), which is sporting a 59-cent gain (+1.9%) bringing the stock to $32.20. Holding back the Dow today is Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ), which is lagging the broader Dow index with a $2.61 decline (-10.3%) bringing the stock to $22.77.

Editor's Note: Any reference to TheStreet Ratings and its underlying recommendation does not reflect the opinion of TheStreet, Inc. or any of its contributors including Jim Cramer or Stephanie Link.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ( ^DJI) is trading up 36 points (+0.2%) at 14,933 as of Thursday, Aug 22, 2013, 9:35 a.m. ET. During this time, 30.6 million shares of the 30 Dow components have changed hands vs. an average daily trading volume of 549.9 million. The NYSE advances/declines ratio sits at 1,831 issues advancing vs. 700 declining with 200 unchanged.

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The Dow component leading the way higher looks to be Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT), which is sporting a 59-cent gain (+1.9%) bringing the stock to $32.20. This single gain is lifting the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 4.47 points or roughly accounting for 12.4% of the Dow's overall gain. Volume for Microsoft Corporation currently sits at 2.9 million shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 45.7 million shares.

Microsoft Corporation has a market cap of $263.39 billion and is part of the technology sector and computer software & services industry. Shares are up 18.4% year to date as of Wednesday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 2.9%.

TheStreet Ratings rates Microsoft Corporation as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, notable return on equity, attractive valuation levels and impressive record of earnings per share growth. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows weak operating cash flow.

Holding back the Dow today is Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), which is lagging the broader Dow index with a $2.61 decline (-10.3%) bringing the stock to $22.77. Volume for Hewlett-Packard currently sits at 9.2 million shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 14.6 million shares.

Hewlett-Packard has a market cap of $49.83 billion and is part of the technology sector and computer hardware industry. Shares are up 78.1% year to date as of Wednesday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 2.2%.

Hewlett-Packard Company and its subsidiaries provide products, technologies, software, solutions, and services to individual consumers, small-and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and large enterprises, including customers in the government, health, and education sectors worldwide.

TheStreet Ratings rates Hewlett-Packard as a hold. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance and good cash flow from operations. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including deteriorating net income, generally higher debt management risk and disappointing return on equity.